Ohio law center helps taxpayers repeal school levy

COLUMBUS (AP) — An Ohio constitutional law center is launching what it hopes will be an attention-grabbing effort to repeal a school levy that passed last spring in Gov. John Kasich’s hometown.

The 1851 Center for Constitutional Law is gathering signatures in the Columbus suburb of Westerville for a November ballot issue overturning the tax increase.

Executive Director Maurice Thompson said this is the first of many levy-repeal campaigns the center hopes to wage statewide using an obscure tax law that authorizes local voters to repeal a school levy every five years. He said the center has identified only one attempt to use the statute in the past 20 years. For legal reasons, it was unsuccessful.

A spokeswoman for the Ohio School Boards Association said she couldn’t immediately comment.